Yaqin tube amps: any further thoughts?

[Ajani]

Ajani,

If you want one of the better examples of a SET you should consider a Bottlehead 2a3/300B. Because of their homespun looks they don't bring that much on the used market. The great advantage here is that you get someone's dotted on, meticulous hand built amp "child" ( they're usually way over built by OCD guys ) for a ridiculously low price if you factor in tons of man hours and quality parts. When a Bottlehead is listed on A'gon you'll see the internals proudly showcased as that's where it's builder gets his rocks off. The only SET I've heard so far that is way better is the three chassis Mercury Vapor tubed "Voice of God" GM-70 ( aka The Oil Sheik's SET )

Any thoughts on the Bottlehead Stereomour? If I do buy a SET, that's the most likely option.

Stereomour Stereo Single Ended 2A3/45 Integrated Amplifier Kit

[RGA]

Ajani (This is long but might be worth your time - as I kind of want to do this in my reviews)

Psychologically and because most of us grew up in a letter graded society - A is better than B and 5 is better than 4.

I don't believe people shake that even with an explanation - and that assumes that most people bothered to read it. I can't count the number of times I say something is not all that good and someone comes back with "well Stereophile gave it class A so it must be "elite" - well no it may in fact not be - in fact it could outright suck).

If numbers and grades are to be handed out they should only be handed out by the reviewer who reviewed them. And a detailed explanation of what they value.

I tried to do this years ago on this forum - Please don't be too hard on me - this was 2004 before I had any thought of being a reviewer - I don't even wholly agree with my 2004 self - but I think there were some good ideas here and I may try to tighten it up since it's incredibly convoluted right now.

I lifted these ideas by basically blending three stereo publications together - enjoythemusic, hi-fi choice, Stereophile while making modifications


First the rating system:


Speakers are rated into several categories of certain aspects of the speaker’s sound which I have tried to account for in my listening sessions. For example, the “Bass depth” rating is not just bass depth, but also how well the speaker performs with what bass it does offer. Stand-mount speakers are usually at a disadvantage in this regard but this is a fact of life and no compensation is made for those wishing to add subwoofers. If a speaker has no deep bass it has none and will score a zero. By all means if this is unimportant disregard the bass depth aspect and purchase a sub-woofer.

Further, I have my own personal tastes in what I look for in loudspeakers. I prize the overall musical event more so than trying to rank individual aspects of treble or bass or imaging. As such in the areas most important to me I have added modifiers. So each aspect of sound such as imaging or tonality I have scored the product out of ten. However, because the Midrange is more important to me than Deep Bass, I have added an X3 modifier to the midrange so that a score of 8/10 with the X3 modifier will now be weighted 24/30.

There are eleven aspects of sound that I have used for my ratings with a total out of 200. Each aspect is scored out of ten, with the aforementioned weighted modifiers. This is to be as objective as I can be. This also allows the reader who may value Imaging and Sound-staging more than I do to weight that aspect more and perhaps high frequencies less.

An overall percentage is given of the speaker’s performance. Percentages above or below the middle of the range expected will affect the overall grade given to speakers. I have developed a base line of where I expect a speaker’s performance percentage to be given relative to the price of the speaker using the following table.

Based in Canadian Dollars(Subtract roughly 30% for US figure)

Up to $200 (30-40%)
$200.00-$500.00 (40-50%)
$500.00 - $1,000.00 (50-60%)
$1000.00 $2,000.00 (60 – 70%)
$2,000 - $5,000.00 (70-80%)
$5,000.00 - $10,000 (80%- 85%)
$10,000.00 and up (85%-100%)

Note: Speakers receiving 90%-100% are given a Reference Recommended Tag. A speaker scoring less than 8.5 in Deep bass will get a LLF in front of the Reference tag to indicate that the speaker is Limited Low Frequency (In other words does not offer reference quality in the deep bass).

For example, a speaker at $600.00 that scores 65% is performing well above expectations for its price range and will receive a Best Buy Tag.

A speaker performing in the upper part of its expected percentile will receive a Recommended Rating. A speaker performing within its expected percentile price range but at the lower end will receive no tag.

Lastly, an expensive speaker performing below the expected performance percentile range will receive a Not Recommended. This is my question to the manufacturer as to why the speaker is so highly priced given the performance offered up. It may very well be the case that some of these speakers outperform speakers receiving a Best Buy or Recommended tag at lower levels; however, it is not, to put it bluntly, performing to the level of similarly priced speakers or my expectations. It should be stressed that a Not Recommended Tag does not mean it’s necessarily a BAD speaker.

Note: Any speaker ranking 80% or better will be given a FREE from being given a Question Mark. While I may deem it overpriced, high end speakers to me have attained remarkable musicality which trumps the details.

A Speaker with a Best Buy rating is not necessarily a better product than one which receives a Recommended tag. However, a Best Buy tag in the same price range may be superior – if in doubt check the overall percentage.

Do not be put off by relatively low percentage scores. Nothing is likely to score a 100% and very few will rate higher than about 85%. I consider speakers rating 75% or better to be high end, 70% or better for bookshelf speakers. These are rough – obviously if a Speaker has a lot of 8s but did poorly in bass response and you like subwoofers anyway it should still be highly considered. Also if build and finish are critical to you then certainly taking a 63 over a 67 makes sense if the latter is a butt ugly beast.

Note: All speakers are judged on their sound when I have auditioned them. I have no interest in the look, finish, price or name recognition or even build quality of loudspeakers. Unless noted expect the build quality to be good for almost all loudspeakers built today at pretty much all price points. I am sure there are the odd speakers with gross defects, but that I suspect would be quite rare. What is attractive for your home is up to you just like the sound of the speaker.

My ratings are meant for me as a hobbyist and for your entertainment. My reviews like all reviews are only any good if you agree with them. Perhaps you will be inspired to listen to something you have not heard before – and that is the best thing any audiophile can do. Spend days and days listening and comparing against other speakers. Listen in different locations with different gear in good rooms and in bad. Listen with some known recordings knowing you will have expectation bias so try listening to genres you know but unfamiliar recordings and find the speaker that can delineate differences better.

Paradigm AtomV3 $180CDN $140.00US.
2 way 2 driver stand-mount 70hz ? 20khz +/-2db ? 89db 8ohm

BEST BUY!!

I have to say I have loathed the previous incarnations of this speaker which sounded more like a screech box with an over-inflated mid-bass and atrociously obnoxious and un-listenable treble. Well the mid-bass is still pronounced, but the treble has been markedly restrained, so much so that this new incarnation of the speaker given the price is actually quite fun to listen to and one of the best you will likely find under $200.00. It?s amazing what a subtle change in one area can do to the whole presentation. It?s still not as coherent as I would like seeming to lack in the micro-dynamics and resolution departments. You know there is more brush work going on and you want to hear more of what is going on your recordings. But you have to look at the price. What is on offer is quite a lot considering it is a sub $200.00. Let?s be realistic ? it isn?t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but the fact is you could pay a fair chunk more and not get as much. The treble has been toned down I suspect a bit rolled off from the last model and that loses some crispness. However I would gladly give that up for a smoother balance. The speaker presents a wall of sound rather than get into the inner resolution so I sort of feel detached to what I?m listening to. Nevertheless it?s a good rocker surprisingly and will serve home theater fairly well no doubt. For under $200.00 and many place here are discounting them even more I can recommend this model with a solid Best Buy. Watch out they don?t try and serve up the V2 ? that to me is a mess.

Ratings are in absolute terms rated against all speakers of all price ranges and ratings are not inflated because they are deemed budget speakers.
Deep Bass 10hz ? 30hz_____________________ 0/10
Bass 30hz ? 80hz__________________________ 3/10
Midbass (80hz ? 200hz)_____________________ 5/10 X2
Midrange (200hz ? 3khz)_____________________5/10 X3
High Frequency (3khz ? up)__________________ 4.5/10 X2
Attack (including macro-dynamics)____________ 5/10
Decay____________________________________3/10
Resolution (including micro-dynamics)_________ 2.5/10 X2
Imaging and Soundstage____________________ 5/10
Tonality__________________________________ 5/10 X2
Cohesiveness (integrity of the musical event)___ 4.5/10 X4

Overall____________________________________83/200 = 41.5%



The actual reviews I did in 2004

http://forums.audioreview.com/speakers/rga-reviews-$1-000-00-loudspeakers-wharfedale-athena-technologies-etc-page-1-a-6694.html

Part 2 (and shows I was not anti-Paradigm even back then)

http://forums.audioreview.com/speakers/rga-reviews-$2000-00-page-2-epos-audio-note-paradigm-b-w-etc-6696.html

Part 3 RGA Reviews Page 3 - yes still more.

I stress I don't even agree with my 2004 self on some of those - it was more of an exercise to see if such a rating system would work.

I think that it could work if a magazine did this - different reviewers would simply weight the aspects of the sound differently but you would still be able to have clear values. But it would require the reviewer to have sampled a lot of gear in the different price ranges. I love listening to stuff like Trends for $200 all the way to cost no object - but some reviewers really only look at $10k and up components.